Crowe was part of First Squad's rifle team, along with Private Wierzbowski.[3] He was killed during the early stages of the operation when the squad's Pulse Rifle ammunition, being carried in a bag to prevent its use, cooked off in a fire, causing an explosion.

Contents

Biography

Mission to LV-426

During preparations for the drop on LV-426, Crowe helped to move heavy supplies around the Sulaco's hangar bay using a small motorized cart.[3] During the drop itself, Crowe and Private Frost bantered about the latter's tendency to imply that every drop was going to turn into a disaster; Frost joked that when they returned without Crowe, he'd make sure to call his parents and let them know what had happened to him. Upon landing at the colony, Crowe and the other Marines found it deserted with signs of a recent firefight. The colonists were subsequently located, via their Personal Data Transmitters, inside the nearby Atmosphere Processing Plant.

Processor ambush

Crowe's corpse.

Inside the Atmosphere Processing Plant, Crowe was one of the first to come to the aid of Private Frost and Corporal Dietrich when the Marines were first ambushed by Warriors, not realizing the bag containing the confiscated Pulse Rifle ammunition was on fire and rapidly cooking off. Corporal Dwayne Hicks pulled Private Trevor Wierzbowski away from the scene, however Crowe was caught in the blast radius; the explosion hurling him against a wall, snapping his neck and killing him almost instantly.

Personality and Traits

Like Private Wierzbowski, Crowe was one of the more reserved members of the unit, lacking the loud personality of many of the other Marines. However, he was still prone to cracking jokes with the troops.

Equipment

Crowe was outfitted with standard issue M3 Pattern Personal Armor and an M10 Pattern Ballistic Helmet for protection, with a TNR Shoulder Lamp attachment for illumination. On his armor's chest plate, he had painted the phrase "THE BIRD", along with a wing emblem.[6][7] At one point prior to the Hadley's Hope mission, Crowe had an elaborate color portrait of his girlfriend printed on the rear of his armor, but Apone quickly made him remove it as he deemed it excessive even for the loose-knit squad of Marines he commanded.[8]

On Acheron, Crowe carried an M41A Pulse Rifle as his primary weapon. Like Dietrich, he carried a Heckler & Koch VP70 in a fabric holster on his right hip, which appeared to be attached with some rope. He also wore a watch on his left wrist.[9]

Trivia

Crowe actor Tip Tipping was a member of the SAS (Special Air Service, Britain's elite special forces regiment) before becoming an actor and stuntman.[10] SAS personnel were involved in training the Marine actors in the film so that they could convincingly portray soldiers on-screen.

Tim Crowe does not seem to fit the pattern of giving the Marines in Aliens the same first name as the actor portraying them — in this case, Tip Tipping. However, Tipping's real first name was Timothy and his birth name is Tim Tipping.[12]